Weekend incidents included shooting, wreck

By Molly Phipps

Published: Monday, July 15, 2013 at 05:56 PM.

“Case detectives are still working through interviews and contacting witnesses,” Ledford said Monday. “We’re just trying to get everything together so we can do a presentation to the district attorney about charges. We’re hoping to get wrapped up there first thing tomorrow.”

Ledford said police know the shooter and victim had a confrontation, but police are still working to determine what it was about and what exactly happened.

Fatal crash

Also early Saturday morning, two men fired shots into a Seaboard Avenue home, according to previous Star reports. While leaving the scene, the men wrecked and the passenger, Lane, was thrown from the vehicle and killed, police said.

According to his obituary in Monday's Star, Lane was "a loving father, husband and son." He was also a member of Cornerstone Baptist Church and a screen printer for Bradley Screen Printing. Lane enjoyed fishing, music and the arts, including playing guitar and drums.

Police released the names Monday of two people killed this weekend in separate Shelby incidents.

Latasha Vanessa Petty, 24, of Bessemer City, was found shot to death Saturday morning at 208 Ramblewood Drive, according to police.

Nathan Andrew Lane, 36, of 717 S. Washington St. in Shelby, was killed Saturday morning in a wreck that involved two men in a car shooting into a home on Seaboard Avenue, according to police.

Shelby Police Chief Jeff Ledford said investigations into both incidents are ongoing.

Fatal shooting

In the Ramblewood Drive shooting, Steven Tyrell Morris, 20, is charged with possession of a firearm by felon, possession of a stolen firearm, and resist, obstruct and delay. According to police, Morris was involved with the death, but what happened remains unclear.

“Case detectives are still working through interviews and contacting witnesses,” Ledford said Monday. “We’re just trying to get everything together so we can do a presentation to the district attorney about charges. We’re hoping to get wrapped up there first thing tomorrow.”

Ledford said police know the shooter and victim had a confrontation, but police are still working to determine what it was about and what exactly happened.

Fatal crash

Also early Saturday morning, two men fired shots into a Seaboard Avenue home, according to previous Star reports. While leaving the scene, the men wrecked and the passenger, Lane, was thrown from the vehicle and killed, police said.

According to his obituary in Monday's Star, Lane was "a loving father, husband and son." He was also a member of Cornerstone Baptist Church and a screen printer for Bradley Screen Printing. Lane enjoyed fishing, music and the arts, including playing guitar and drums.

Attempts to reach Lane's family for comment were unsuccessful.

The driver of the car, Richard Ray Martin, 42, is charged with driving while impaired and felony death by vehicle.

Ledford said questions remain as to why the shots were fired into the home.

“On the accident, our traffic guys and a couple of detectives are down at the district attorney’s now, meeting about that case to see what we can do on that,” said Ledford. “That’s just a sad one all the way around. Obviously, with both cases, we want to make sure we get beyond speculation and that we at least give these families some concrete details on that. We owe them that.”

Helping the families of the victims

Ledford said police have been in contact with the families of both Petty and Lane.

“They have a long road ahead through the grieving process,” he said. “Doing the case work’s one thing, but if we can somehow help with the other part, the process of closure, that’ll be good.”

If you have any information pertaining to these crimes, call Crimestoppers at 704-481-TIPS (8477). Anyone with information can call and will remain anonymous. If you have questions about the cases, contact Captain Rick Stafford at 704-484-7150 or the Shelby Police Department at 704-484-6845.

Reach Molly Phipps at 704-669-3339, at mphipps@shelbystar.com or on Twitter @MollyAPhipps.